


I saw light

by twistedsky



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-20
Updated: 2014-11-20
Packaged: 2018-02-26 03:57:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2637116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twistedsky/pseuds/twistedsky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No werewolves AU--Scott and Lydia run a bakery, and somewhere along the line they fall in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I saw light

**Author's Note:**

> For Rachel(elvesarebad on tumblr).

“No one ever orders the key lime pie,” Lydia says. “I think it’s time to take it off the menu.”

“Absolutely not,” Scott objects. “If they tried it, then they’d love it. It’s good.”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t,” Lydia says patiently. “I’m just saying that every day that we make key lime pie, we're wasting money. And don't tell me that you'll eat the leftover pie yourself, because I remember what happened with the pineapple tarts."

“What if we made it the special one day?” Scott suggests, twirling his pen around in his fingers.

Lydia nods her head. “We can try that. But if it doesn’t work out, then we’re taking it off the menu, deal?” She makes a note to do it sometime next week, and then looks back up to see Scott planting his feet on their coffee table. “Scott,” she warns.

He moves his feet without complaint, but the smile on his face makes her feel like he’s laughing at her.

It's her apartment too. That coffee table is an antique, and she won't have him scuffing it with his shoes. 

When they’d gone into business and opened their bakery, they’d very carefully drawn the line between business and baking(though, of course, the line hadn’t stayed drawn for very long).

They live in the two-bedroom apartment above the bakery, and it’s perfect for their needs.

Even when Scott rolls out of bed at the last possible moment, he still manages to be on time to prep, so Lydia supposes that the occasional inconvenience of living with him is worth it, at least.

“I have a friend coming by tomorrow,” Lydia says casually. “Cute, brunette. Her name is Allison.”

As casual as she’d been, Scott still narrows his eyes and studies her carefully. “Is this another attempt to set me up?”

Lydia snorts. “Of course not.” Of course it is.

“Uh huh,” Scott says. “I’ll make some suggestions if I notice her.”

“I’ll point her out to you,” Lydia promises. “I’m just saying, be on your best behavior.”

“Be on my best behavior for the girl you’re definitely not trying to set me up with?” Scott still isn’t buying it, but Lydia doesn’t give up the charade.

“Exactly,” she says.

~~

Stiles, who is a good worker when he _wants_ to be, is running the counter, which means that Lydia is peeping over his shoulder to make sure that he’s not giving out ‘free samples’ again.

Lydia sees Allison walk in the door, and she smiles, waving hello.

She looks back at Scott, who has just brought another platter of cookies to the front of the store. “Perfect, just who I was looking for,” Lydia says, grabbing his arm and directing him to look towards Allison. “What do you think?”

“I think we’re busy, and—“ Lydia elbows him, and he laughs. “She’s cute,” he says. “But I’m not really looking—“

Lydia rolls her eyes and drags him over to the counter, waving Allison toward them.

“Allison, hello,” Lydia greets her. “It’s so good to see you again. This is Scott, the co-owner of the bakery.”

Allison smiles, and holds out her hand to shake Scott’s flour-covered hand.

“Sorry,” Scott says with the cute puppy smile. Perfect, Lydia thinks, no one should be able to resist that. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too, Scott,” Allison says, casually looking him over.

“Scott, why don’t you tell Allison about some of our best treats,” Lydia smiles brightly, and then nudges Scott around the counter. “Over there, at that table.”

“I have cupcakes in the oven, and we’re kind of busy—“ Lydia gives Scott an extra shove.

“I’ll handle it,” Lydia says. “Just like I do everything else.”

Scott turns back and directs his puppy-faced smile at her. Luckily it doesn’t work on her anymore, after years of friendship. “I’ll humor you just this once,” he says.

Lydia waves him off, and Allison and Scott sit down.

They’re smiling at each other, and they’d make an adorable couple, Lydia notes.

She knew they’d hit it off.

She’d love to stand and watch, but she’s got cupcakes in the oven, and customers to feed.

~~

“So?” Lydia pounces on him the second Allison leaves. “Thoughts?”

“She’s nice,” Scott says, and that’s not helpful at all, because Scott is so nice you have to be pretty awful for him to notice. “We have a date for Saturday.”

“ _Saturday?”_ Lydia shakes her head. “We’re too busy on Saturday. Make it Sunday.”

“Lydia Martin,” Scott says. “Contrary to what the popular opinion is, you don’t actually run my life. And I’m off on Saturday, because Kira has a thing on Sunday, so we switched.”

“I don’t remember that being on the schedule,” Lydia says, a little disgruntled.

“We only talked about it this morning,” Scott says. “And I would have told you sooner if you hadn’t been playing matchmaker again.” 

He may have a point, but Lydia simply shrugs. “You need a life outside of the bakery,” she points out.

Scott puts his arm around her shoulder and nudges her back to the kitchen. “So do you.”

“I have a life outside of the bakery,” Lydia shakes her head. “You haven’t been out on a date in six months, since the last time I set you up. And before that you were dating Kira, and that was _two years_ ago.”

“I’m busy,” Scott says. “And I’m going out with Allison, doesn’t that make you happy?”

“Yes, it does,” Lydia admits. “Fine. Tell me all about your conversation.”  
~~

The bakery has long since closed by the time that Scott gets back from his date on Saturday.

She’s on her bed with her laptop, just in case he brings Allison back to—actually, that’s not really his style. Lydia just doesn’t want to seem like she’s waiting up for him.

She’ll wait till he comes in from the stairs, and she’ll wander out completely coincidentally.

She hears him open the door, and she gently closes her laptop, rushing to the door and opening it casually.

“Oh hey, did you just get back?”

Scott looks up from his keys and nods. “Yup.”

“How did it go?” Lydia asks. She narrows her eyes at him. “Did you make a second date? Was there a goodnight kiss?”

Lydia needs to live vicariously through Scott, because while she’ll occasionally sleep with someone, or go on a date, nothing ever goes anywhere.

Her heart is embedded in the bakery, so it’s just not really open for business now, and she’s not sure when it will be.

“It was fine,” Scott says, and there’s something disconcerting about the look on his face, so Lydia walks a little closer.

“What’s wrong?” she demands.

“I don’t think we really clicked,” Scott says with a slight smile, running a hand through his hair. “Thanks for trying though, Lydia,” he says softly, smiling a little more broadly at her.

Lydia sighs. “One of these days,” she says softly. “You’ll find the right girl, I promise,” and she closes the distance between them and hugs him.

“I know,” he says, his arms wrapping around her in a tight, comfortable hug. “And maybe I’ll be lucky and she’ll like me back.”

Lydia pulls away, her arms falling to her sides. “Of course she will,” she makes a face at him. “As if anyone could say no to that face,” she says, reaching over and pinching one of his cheeks. “Get some sleep,” she says. “You have to work tomorrow.”

“I’ll make sure not to wake you up in the morning,” Scott promises.

“Save me a donut,” Lydia says, because Sunday is donut day.

“On penalty of death,” Scott declares solemnly, and Lydia just rolls her eyes and wanders back to her bedroom door.

She turns back before entering, “I’ll find you someone,” she promises. “One of these days, I will succeed. I always do.”

“I know,” Scott says. “But, I could find someone myself, you know.”

“I know,” Lydia says. “I’m just better at things than you are, so I’m offering my services out of the kindness of my heart.”

Scott shakes his head. “Goodnight, Lydia.”

“Goodnight, Scott,” Lydia says before entering her bedroom and shutting the door behind her.

Lydia moves her laptop to her desk and steps out of her slippers, then climbs into her bed.

The truth is, Lydia’s a little worried about what happens when Scott _does_ fully connect with someone, because he’s such an integral part of her life. She knows that lives change, and that people evolve, but a tiny part of her thinks her life is almost perfect as it is, and she’d hate to mess that up.

~~

She has coffee with Allison a few days later. They make pleasantries, and then—“Tell me about your date with Scott,” Lydia says firmly, jumping from the weather to Scott without bothering with a transition.

Allison bites her lip. “I thought he was very nice,” she says carefully, almost diplomatically, like she's hiding something.

“What was wrong with him?” Lydia asks bluntly, though not meanly. Allison is still her friend, as is Scott. She simply wants to get to the bottom of it, so that the next time she sets Scott or Allison up(it’s like a bad habit, this whole matchmaking business), it might actually work out.

“Nothing, really,” Allison says. “We just weren’t well-suited,” Allison hesitates slightly, then takes a sip of her coffee.

“Why not?” Lydia presses a little harder.

Allison sets her coffee down and gives her a long, careful look.

Lydia’s not sure what she’s looking for, so she just sits there, solid as a rock.

“You really don’t see it?” Allison asks incredulously. “Wow. I thought it was just him, but it’s you too. You’re both—wow.” Allison shakes her head and smiles slightly, like she’s in on some secret Lydia isn’t privy to.

Lydia is most certainly not fond of _that_ particular dynamic. She likes to be the person who knows things, she always has.

“Allison,” Lydia says patiently, even though she’s beginning to feel a bit impatient. “Oh, sweet Allison. What are you talking about?”

Allison tilts her head to the side, studying her carefully.

She sits back up straight before leaning in and speaking. “I think Scott is in love with someone else,” Allison says. “That’s all.”

Lydia narrows her eyes. “Who?” she demands. “Do I know her?”

“Not as well as you think,” Allison says, eyes sparkling with mischief.

Lydia doesn’t get anything more meaningful than that out of their coffee date, so she’s definitely a little off-balance and irritated by the end of it.

~~

Lydia has two options.

She can confront Scott head-on, and simply ask who he’s in love with. The blunt approach works with Scott most times, but when it comes to love and romance, he’s inwardly sixteen, all starry-eyed and blushing.

He’ll probably start smiling like a fool and he’ll turn as red as a tomato, and then Lydia won’t get anything out of him.

This leaves the second option—figure it out on her own, through careful prodding and an investigation into all of the significant people in Scott’s life.

Option two it is, Lydia decides.

~~

The real question is if the person returns Scott’s affections, Lydia realizes.

She prods a bit more at Allison, who reveals nothing of note, and Lydia seethes in her own little corner.

Fine, she’ll do all the work herself.

Scott’s not the kind of guy who acts perfectly normal and happy when he’s in love with a friend’s girlfriend, so Lydia thinks she can cross a few possibilities off the list.

Erica’s engaged to Boyd, Malia is only into women(and very vocal about that, and the fact that she’s dating someone she won’t tell anyone about). If not for the lesbian aspect of things, she’d be an excellent candidate, Lydia thinks dispassionately.

It could be Derek’s sister Cora, Lydia thinks, and then she frowns.

She’s a perfectly nice person, Lydia supposes, but that’s not quite right. She doesn’t feel like Scott’s type.

That’s it for friends Lydia knows about, though there’s still the chance it’s someone random Lydia’s never met before. But no, Lydia thinks. Scott doesn’t have enough time to go out and meet many girls, and certainly not enough to fall completely in love with someone that Lydia’s never even heard of. Plus, Allison had made it sound like it's someone she does know, though she'd been rather weird about it.

That leaves Kira, the second baker at their bakery. Lydia frowns. Scott and Kira have dated before, which makes her a definite possibility.

Maybe Scott has been holding onto feelings for her for quite a while, maybe he’s harboring some true love kind of crap, Lydia thinks viciously.

It’s annoying, because it means that Scott had lied to her when he told her that he’d moved on from her.

And Scott’s not supposed to lie to Lydia about anything. They’re _partners_ , and they’re friends, and it’s against the rules that they’ve carefully set out.

Plus, Lydia thinks, it’s just hurtful.

~~

It's ridiculous that Lydia is even following this train of thought, because Lydia should know Scott better than someone who just met him, right?

She studies Scott carefully, mostly to see if Allison’s even right.

Maybe she’s not. Maybe she was reading into things that aren’t there, maybe she’s just _wrong_ , and Scott’s not in love with anyone. Maybe he’s just closed off, or not interested in dating, or just not interested in _Allison_. 

That’s ridiculous, Lydia thinks. Everyone should be interested in Allison, because Allison’s a _catch_.

This only serves to make Lydia even more frustrated, and so she plants herself on a stool while Scott is in the kitchen working and just _watches_ him.

She has a notebook, of course, to take notes and pretend that she’s doing work-related things.

She’s even managing to get a little work done in-between constantly looking up to look at Scott and contemplating additional possibilities for Scott’s true love.

He seems happy, Lydia thinks. But he’s Scott, he’s pretty much always happy.

But is he _in love_?

Lydia is studying him carefully, so carefully that she almost doesn’t notice when Scott looks up at her.

“What are you doing?” he asks. “What’s with the weird staring?”

“Nothing,” Lydia says defensively. I’m just thinking,  and looking out into space, and you happened to be there.”

“Really?” Scott walks over, and Lydia covers up her Scott-related notes as unnoticeably as she can. "You don't usually do a lot of pointless staring."

“Really,” Lydia assures him, and he shrugs. 

“Did you see the key lime numbers?” Scott asks.

Lydia sighs. “I did. They were spectacular. The pie can stay. For now.”

“They’ve been good in the days since then too,” Scott points out. “Or, well, reasonable.”

“I can accept reasonable,” Lydia taps her fingers on her notebook, and then smiles slightly. “I’m glad,” she says softly. “I know how much you love that pie.”

“It’s my mom’s favorite,” Scott says. “I got the recipe from _her_ mom, and it’s family, you know? You never give up on family.”

“Even if it’s just food,” Lydia finishes for him, and Scott nods slightly.

He squeezes her shoulder gently. “You’re a secret softie, Lydia Martin,” he says, leaning over to kiss her cheek before washing his hands and going back to decorating cupcakes.

“Don’t tell anyone,” Lydia murmurs, frowning at something she can’t quite put her finger on yet.

“Your secret’s safe with me,” Scott says jokingly, but all of her secrets are safe with him, she thinks.

She rubs her cheek when Scott’s back is turned, and wonders.

Maybe—maybe she’s been thinking about this all wrong.

~~

If Scott is in love with Kira, then Lydia might have a problem.

Besides the obvious staffing issues, and the possible HR issues they could end up with, Lydia is—well, no, Lydia’s not anything, she assures herself.

She’s concerned about the business. The business is her love. It’s the most important thing in her life, and that’ll never change.

She goes to sleep at that night contemplating Scott-related issues, and she doesn’t know how to broach the subject of his possible feelings for Kira.

She’s afraid, a little. And maybe more than a little, she admits to herself, curled in her small warm ball in the midst of her cold bedsheets.

She doesn’t want to lose Scott, and a tiny part of her wonders if she already has.

He’s keeping secrets from her, he’s in love with someone else, and she’s not exactly sure how to handle that.

~~

“The online catering business is doing really well,” Lydia tells Scott, who smiles, because good news is good news. 

She hands him his copy of the information to peruse later, and he'll get to it eventually.

He tends to read six months’s worth when he’s struggling with a new recipe, and it helps clear out his brain, he tells her.

“So,” Lydia says. “Are you and Kira dating again?”

“ _What_?” Scott looks up from his piece of pizza, because their meetings pretty much always include food.

He’s a little taken aback, which is fair, she thinks, because she didn’t exactly give him any warning before blurting it out.

“Or do you want to?” Lydia asks. “Because either way, if you’re considering involving yourself with another employee again then we should discuss it.”

Scott narrows his eyes and looks halfway caught between laughter and utter confusion, which isn’t quite the reaction she’d been expecting.

“If you’re in love with her,” Lydia continues. “I’m a little hurt that you didn’t tell me, but I’ll forgive that lapse in judgment if we can discuss how you’ll handle it.”

“I’m not in love with Kira, Lydia,” Scott says firmly. “Not even a little. She’s my friend, that’s all, and I’m pretty sure she’s dating Malia.”

“Oh,” Lydia says, feeling a little better about things, “That makes sense. Well, if you’re not in love with Kira, then who is it?”

“Lydia,” Scott says, holding his hands together tightly on the table in front of him. “Where did you get the idea that I’m in love with someone?”

Lydia shrugs, as if it isn’t important, then looks back down at her notes. She still has a lot to discuss with him—there’s a new advertising plan she’s got in mind, and then there’s the detailwork for the second bakery they want to open up, and—“Lydia,” he says her name again, patiently.

Lydia looks up at him, meeting his eyes. It’s oddly difficult, though she powers through that rather than look back down and admit some kind of weakness. “Allison said you said so during your dinner with her. Which, really now Scott, isn’t exactly proper etiquette, or very nice at all.”

“You’re the one who set me up with her.”

“I set up a meeting, you made a date,” Lydia corrects. “Anyway, was she wrong? Because she seemed pretty sure.”

“ _Lydia,_ ” Scott says again. He sighs, then softens a bit, and he reaches for her hands, grasping them in his own. “Allison didn’t know what she was talking about. She came up with the idea that I’m in love with someone all on her own.”

“I see,” Lydia says. “Who does she think you’re in love with?”

Scott clenches her hands a bit more tightly, and then turns a bright red. “She’s wrong, I think,” Scott says, a little less sure now.

“Who?” Lydia practically snaps out. She breathes in deeply, and then more patiently, “Who?”

“You,” Scott says, and Lydia’s hands jump out of his.

“That’s ridiculous,” Lydia says. “Where would she get an idea like that?” Lydia is--she's not sure what she is. Confused? Breathless? Panicked? That's  _ridiculous._

“I may have—“ Scott clears his throat. “I may have spent half our date talking about you.”

“There you go,” Lydia says, lifting a perfectly manicured finger as if to say _I knew it_. “You know you can’t talk about another girl on a first date. That’s—what did you say?”

“I told you it was ridiculous,” Scott reminds her. “Just normal stuff. I didn’t exactly admit my undying love for you.”

“Okay then,” Lydia perks up. She feels a lot better about all of this now. “That’s settled then. We can move on to more important things.”

Lydia looks back down at her notes, trying to find her place, and she realizes her finger is trembling a little bit. 

“She thinks you’re in love with me too,” Scott says, and Lydia’s eyes flicker back up to meet his.

“She does not.”

“She does,” Scott assures her. “She thinks we’re in love, and that we haven’t figured that out yet.”

“She’s clearly not very observant,” Lydia snorts.

“Of course not,” Scott agrees.

Lydia smiles slightly, and Scott smiles back at her, and it’s that stupid puppy-faced smile of his, and it has _never_ worked on Lydia before, at least she doesn’t think it has, but—but no, Lydia thinks. No reason to start being weak now, just because someone put the thought in your head.

Lydia kissed Scott once, like ten years ago. Okay, it had been a little more like a makeout session, but it only happened once, and while it was nice, it was also _ten_ years ago, when they were fifteen.“Maybe we should finish this later,” she suggests.

“Sure,” Scott agrees, and they both stand up awkwardly, bumping into their kitchen table.

Lydia closes the pizza box, and then puts it in the fridge. Normally she’d put the pieces in a plastic bag first, but she’s feeling a bit off-balance at the moment.

She turns around from the fridge and walks right into Scott, who drops his plate of pizza in surprise, grabbing hold of her instinctively. To make sure she doesn’t fall, she tells herself, because he’s nice like that.

“Sorry,” he says, and she just stands there staring at him.

“I—“ Lydia starts to say. “We could test Allison’s theory,” she hears herself say.

Scott’s face widens in surprise. “Oh. We could.”

“Okay,” she says, grabbing his collar with her hands and pulling him toward her.

She forgot the fireworks, she thinks, the mental ones that go off behind her eyes.

She forgot the way his mouth feels against hers—it definitely didn’t feel like this before, right? she thinks faintly.

He picks her up and twirls her around, and she ends up with her back against their kitchen wall, with her hands in his hair, and his hands  _everywhere._

They stop momentarily, because Scott needs to take a breath, and so does Lydia.

She looks up at him in the darkness, because somewhere along the line her back hit the light switch. 

“I may have lied before,” Scott says softly, moving a strand of her hair behind her ear, even as plenty more fly free.

“About what?” she asks, still feeling dazed.

“I’ve thought—I’ve thought about you. This way, I mean. I wasn’t sure exactly how I felt, but I knew I felt something, and I just didn’t know how to say it.”

“It’s okay,” Lydia tells him. “I didn’t know how to feel it.”

She feels it now, from the bottoms of her feet to the top of her head, she feels a weighty rush of _something_.

She kisses him again, and ignores the unsure part of that.

She drags him to her bedroom, and it doesn’t take much effort. She pushes him down on her bed and straddles his legs with her own.

“I think—“ Scott says when she comes up for air. “I think Allison might be right.”

“Scott—“ Lydia says, caressing his cheek with her thumb. “I—“

“No, it’s okay,” he says softly. “You don’t have to say anything, I just—I needed to say it. I think I’m in love with you. I think I have been for a while.”

Lydia leans down to kiss him again, and ignores the work that has to be done, and most of all she ignores the way that it made her feel to hear Scott say those words.

She doesn’t what it means, or what to do with it, but it’s something, she thinks.

When she kisses him, she feels _him_ , she feels like her soul is connecting with his, the way people say it’s supposed to when you _are_ in love.

Is this it?  Is this love? Is this the way it feels?

He falls asleep with her in his arms, and she stares up at her ceiling, searching for answers.

~~

She wakes up in his arms, and their alarms are both going off.

She hits hers, and Scott tumbles off the bed and onto the floor, “Sorry. I’ll get it,” he says, moving towards the door to shut off his alarm in his room.

“Scott—“ she calls out, and she doesn’t know why, because she’s not ready to say the words she may have found for herself, and she’s beginning to feel a panic creeping up on her.

Scott reads her face, and shakes his head. “It’s okay,” he says softly. “We’ll talk about it later.”

He walks out of the door, and Lydia really wants him to shut of his alarm clock, because it’s annoying as hell, but—she’s almost naked, and it’s cold, and too early for this, but she runs across the floor, peeping her head out of her door.

“Scott?” she calls out, and his alarm stops, and he peeps his head back out of his room.

“Yeah?”

“I think I love you too,” she says softly, and he smiles.

It’s as good a beginning as any, she thinks, and she starts mentally planning her day all over again, this time fitting in time to discuss this, whatever it is. She turns back to her room, leaning her head against her door.

It’s important, she thinks, and you make time for the things, and the people, who are important to you.

And Scott, Lydia knows, is most certainly important to _her_.

She should probably thank Allison at some point, of course, and she should probably—Scott comes up behind her while she's mentally planning, and he kisses her neck, and she closes her eyes, sinking into the feeling.

She's exhausted from a long night of second-guessing and soul-searching, but she's never felt more awake.


End file.
